Tribalism vs Individualism

Hopefully what I’m sharing is not too controversial. If it is… I’d rather be hated for who I am than be loved for who I am not. These words want to be shared…

Here are some thoughts and observations I’ve gathered in the past two years. 

2020 was an invitation for us to become more balanced, wholesome individuals and evolve as a global community. Majority of human beings (myself included) fall into one of two categories: overly empathetic and overly narcissistic. 

Neither of those traits are healthy or helpful to our collective evolution. 

Some people tend to only concern themselves with the well-being of others, at the expense of their own well-being, completely blind to the fact that through their self sacrifice, they’re burdening others with their lack of personal responsibility. 

Other people take it to the other extreme, where they only care about themselves, emotionally disconnected even from their immediate family. Completely blind to how their actions harm their community and inadvertently themselves. 

The events of 2020 amplified the stakes and forced us to confront our core values. Do we subject ourselves to complete isolation (which is detrimental to our health) and experimental treatments to protect others? Or do we disregard the questionable guidelines and concern ourselves with our personal wellbeing at the potential risk of harming others? 

There’s no such thing as “one fits all” solution.  One man’s medicine is another man’s poison.  

Protecting others and personal wellbeing are equally important. A healthy community is made up of healthy individuals and it protects the most vulnerable. Actions of individuals affect everyone within the community. One at the expense of the other is self destruction. 

A lot of people rose to the occasion and became more centered, equally concerned with both. Many others went further into the extremes of these polarities and cut off anyone who challenged their views. And there are some others who swung to the opposite extreme of where they previously lived.  

I’m noticing a lot of people who identify as liberal, attributing all of the problems we face in the “western culture” to the extreme individualism that is protected here. I find this very ironic, because this individualism is what enables us to challenge gender norms, gender binary & grant civil rights to queer people. In places where cultural traditions are the most sacred that progress is much slower and generally inspired by the western liberation. 

There’s so much that needs to be improved upon in the culture that I live in, but I believe that individualism is the unique gift that we have to offer to the global community. All things in balance, of course. 

A lot of youth are in favor of communism because they see so much poverty and injustice. I believe our social programs need to be improved and expanded, but abolishing private property is not the answer. As if it’s not the governing powers that are currently mismanaging our collective funds…

To thrive as a community, we must thrive as individuals. Those things are not mutually exclusive. If we want progress and harmony in the world, we must find balance and harmony within ourselves. We are fractals of the whole. Instead of blaming people who are not like us, it’s far more productive to go within and figure out why we have those impulses to give or take too much. For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. The more we anchor ourselves on one side, there’s someone else experiencing the opposite extreme.